How addictive is nicotine?

October 27 2021, by Willy van Knippenberg
4 min reading time

Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances, but just how addictive is it? We'll try to answer this question, and give you tips on how to quit smoking.

Nicotine is the substance in tobacco that causes dependence. Nicotine addiction is the most common form of chemical dependency in our country. Research has shown that nicotine is as addictive as heroin, cocaine, and alcohol.

When you first light up a cigarette, you might experience nausea, dizziness, headaches, or stomach upset. But over time, as you smoke more cigarettes, you build a tolerance to these effects until they eventually become unnoticeable. Tolerance means that more nicotine is needed to achieve the same effect we used to get from fewer cigarettes.

Routine smoking causes our bodies to adapt to a certain nicotine level; without realizing it, we regulate the number of cigarettes we smoke to maintain our body's familiar nicotine levels.

Once we're addicted to smoking, we feel like we have to smoke to feel "normal," as if we can't complete our daily tasks without smoking. We begin to connect our smoking routines with many of our daily and social activities, creating triggers. It then becomes difficult to do these activities without smoking. An example is associating a cigarette with a cup of coffee or talking on the phone. We're usually unaware of the psychological effects of smoking. The triggers—the feeling of relaxation, stress reduction, focus, etc.—become automatic. This is called psychological dependence.

How do we become addicted to nicotine?

Every time we light a cigarette, nicotine and other chemicals from the smoke are absorbed into the body. Nicotine enters the bloodstream and reaches the brain at a faster rate than medications, for example. Nicotine affects many parts of the body; it alters metabolism, makes our heart beat faster, and raises our blood pressure.

Nicotine stimulates the nervous system to release specific chemical messengers (hormones and neurotransmitters) that affect different parts of our brain and body. One hormone that nicotine affects is epinephrine, also known as adrenaline. When nicotine is inhaled, you feel the epinephrine stimulating the body, causing your blood pressure and heart rate to rise, and you to breathe harder. Nicotine also activates a specific part of your brain that makes you feel happy by stimulating the release of the hormone dopamine. The release of dopamine when nicotine is inhaled is thought to be the source of the pleasurable sensations you experience when smoking, including relaxation and tension relief.

When you inhale cigarette smoke, nicotine is absorbed and dispersed within 10 seconds. The pleasurable feelings you experience from smoking come on very quickly, but after a few smokes, nicotine begins to weaken your ability to feel these feelings, requiring you to consume more nicotine to maintain the good feelings. This is the cycle of the smoking habit; to maintain the pleasure of smoking, you have to smoke more and more cigarettes. From then on, you're addicted to cigarettes.

Top 5 Addictive Drugs

Nicotine is in the top five of the most addictive substances. Other addictive drugs include:

Crack
Heroin
Tobacco (nicotine)
Alcohol
Cocaine

By drugs, we mean stimulants that can lead to addiction. Nicotine is considered a stimulant. It makes you feel more alert or energetic.

How do we get rid of nicotine addiction?

About 80% of smokers want to quit. Every year, over 1 million smokers put their words into action and make one or more attempts to quit. In 2019, 32.8% of smokers made a serious attempt to quit. Most smokers need several attempts before they succeed in quitting for good. This is not surprising, as smoking is a true addiction.

One way to quit smoking is with nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine replacement therapy releases nicotine just like cigarettes and rolling tobacco, but more slowly. That's why you experience fewer withdrawal symptoms when you quit smoking. They're available in patches, lozenges, and gum, for example.

Nicotine replacement therapy works best when combined with guidance. You gradually reduce your smoking addiction. This makes quitting easier. You'll experience fewer withdrawal symptoms and can use it to get through difficult times.

Need help quitting smoking?

Health insurance policyholders are entitled to support with quitting smoking once a year through the smoking cessation program. You can contact your GP for this. There's also an online decision-making tool available. This will give you an overview of the smoking cessation programs that best suit you. Click here.